Will.i.am has a treasure trove of unreleased tracks by pop superstars Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, and Britney Spears.
The Black Eyed Peas rapper/producer reveals his laptop has folders full of unfinished demos and collaborations with singers past and present, the majority of which have never seen the light of day.
However, will.i.am is willing to give one lucky contestant on the British version of The Voice, on which he is a coach, the rare opportunity to sift through his work over the years and pick out tunes they would want to record for their debut album, reports DigitalSpy.com.
“I got a hard drive full of songs that just sit there and we could go through them,” he said. “There’s Nicole Scherzinger folders, there’s Britney folders, there’s Rihanna folders, Beyonce folders – just songs.
“When I work with artists, we record songs and write songs, and to get one song you have to record seven. So those other six are actually really good. Maybe there’s two of them that are good, maybe there’s one lingering one that just needs some touching up. So you just go through the hard drive.”
The hip-hop star goes on to boast about being the producer superstars turn to when they are seeking to switch up their sound.
“There’s Michael Jackson folders, there’s Whitney Houston folders, there’s a Mariah Carey folder,” will.i.am continued. “Because… I’m like, the person they call. ‘We want something different, we’re looking for something different, we need an international song.’ So they always call… So yeah. They’re just going to sit there on my hard drive. Somebody has to go through them.”
So much of waiting for mama Jackson authorisation as he kept saying since 2009 that he would never release the songs without her permission!
will.i.am has been a coach on The Voice U.K. since its launch in 2012, and he currently sits on season five’s panel of mentors alongside British singers Paloma Faith, Boy George and Ricky Wilson.
SOURCE: NME
This doesn’t sound kosher to me. So this guy just goes in his files and gives away some other artist’s work?
This is totally wrong. Who does he think he is?? He should have no right to tamper with other artists work. Michael in particular was a perfectionist, where is the respect for him and the others. It was one thing to release Xscape which I love and which didn’t need any alterations even though the powers that been still had to play. I only hoped that Michael would have approved of its release. But to allow others to hear the songs and use them is totally beyond belief. Hope somebody can stop him. BAD